Just a Scratch
by SakuraWiings
Summary: [InuKago] [OneShot] Sneaky ol' Inuyasha schemes for some time alone with Kagome.


"Just a Scratch"

An Inuyasha Fanfic by SakuraWings

Disclaimer: Inuyasha, Kagome and Co. belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just adopting them for an hour or so.

* * *

He was having a bad day.

Inuyasha pouted unhappily as he stomped through the dimly lit forest ground. Everyone was still back at the campsite, tending their wounds after that tough battle with a pack of bear youkai. The fight had been long and tedious, since the pack leader was wielding not one but THREE shikon shards, resulting in a ridiculously huge (but also, in his opinion, ridiculously stupid) alpha male. But all turned out well; they were bloody and beaten, but three shikon shards richer in the end.

Kagome and Shippou (thanks to Inuyasha's dexterity and resilience) were relatively unharmed, but the rest of the group did not fare so well. Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango, being the three major offensive fighters in the group, had felt the burning caress of bear claw more than once...several times, actually.

Inuyasha easily had the most severe injuries of them all. Miroku and Sango had moved quickly to avoid the bear's oncoming attacks, resulting in some bleeding scratches and bruising. Inuyasha, on the other hand, had taken a direct hit from the youkai when Kagome had foolishly tried to dislodge one of the shikon shards with her arrow. Thanks to that little stunt, he now had three deep lacerations across his back.

'Not that it really mattered to HER,' he thought bitterly. It wasn't him she had been fussing over back at the campsite, not HIM, the lowly hanyou who had saved her pretty little miko ass from being shredded. Of COURSE it was Miroku and Sango. He conveniently ignored the little voice that said that his injuries, with his speedy healing ability, were not nearly as severe as the bleeding cuts that Miroku and Sango had recieved.

His heart grew heavy at the thought of Kagome rushing past him to the aid of his human companions. Not that he would ever admit it, but he had grown insanely jealous at the sight of Kagome wrapping up Miroku's arm, her voice softly cooing and calming the monk as he grimaced in pain.

When was the last time she had ever cooed at HIM?

He jerked to a stop, and gazed down at the jagged and rocky ravine beneath him. When did he even start caring so much about the wench anyway? He could remember a time where she would come at him with that ridiculous white box that smelled of futuristic medicine, imploring him to come down from his perch, and he would bluntly tell her to go fuck herself.

Inuyasha's eyes suddenly glazed over as his mind engaged in an x-rated fantasy involving Kagome and the verb "fuck".

Then, out of nowhere, a blur of gray sped out of a nearby bush and onto Inuyasha's forehead, causing him to jerk back in suprise.

"What the fuck!" he yelped and he took hold of the fuzzy creature currently attached to his face.

It was a rabbit youkai, Inuyasha knew that they were rare to come across. Usually they kept to themselves, since they were known to be packrats and hoarders of random junk found around the forest. It struggled in Inuysha's grasp as it craded something close to its chest.

The rabbit youkai opened one eye, and upon seeing Inuyasha's ears and obvious heritage as a hanyou, it yelped and struggled even harder, "NO! You can't have it! I found it myself! It's mine, mine, mi-"

"What the hell are you rambling about?" Inuyasha cut him off rudely, as he used his other claw to pry open the youkai's paws and emerged victoriously with the rabbit's prize.

There was no mistaking that bright pink shimmer. It was a shikon shard.

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows indisbelief. This had to be the easiest shard he had gotten yet.

Suddenly the forest floor beneath him rumbled and the rabbit in his hold visibly stiffened and began squealing, "Fine, FINE, you can have it! Please, just please let me go!"

Inuyasha shrugged nonchalantly and simply dropped the rabbit to the ground. It recovered quickly and scampered into the bushes off to the north.

Only a few seconds later, a large oxlike creature burst out of the bushes to the west. He caught sight of the dog hanyou and moved towards him. Inuyasha watched him with half-lidded eyes, "Something you wanna start?" he growled loudly. Beating the crap out of something helped to relieve his thoughts of Kagome...sometimes.

The ox let out a large puff of hot air that made Inuyasha grimace and gag. "All I want to know is where that little runt ran off to!"

Inuyasha shrugged again, suddenly disinterested in taking on a youkai with extremely bad breath, "Thought I saw something white head off to the east," he mused.

Without a word, the beast quickly stomped off to the west.

Once he was gone, Inuyasha examined the newly discovered shikon shard between his thumb and forefinger. It was actually a rather large piece, compared to the ones they had been finding recently. He absently wondered what Kagome would say once he presented it to her.

Thinking of Kagome suddenly put him in a bad mood again. He clenched his fist around the shikon shard. 'She'd probably say "Oh thanks Inuyasha!" and then go back to playing with Shippou or something,' he thought bitterly. He began to pout again. How come HE never got any time with her...

His gaze fell on the dangerous ravine beneath him. It really was quite jagged and sharp. Even a hanyou could get some visible injuries from a tumble down this cliff...

He shook his head. Was he going crazy! He wasn't about to risk an arm and a leg just to get the attention of some pathetic human girl.

His mind mulled over the situation. But...it was true that if he were ever hurt enough, Kagome was sure to make a fuss over him and insist that she take care of him. It almost guaranteed him private time with Kagome alone...

Deep in thought, he paced furiously along the edge of the cliff.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, Kagome was pacing around the fire with a tense expression on her face. Miroku had watched her circle the fire for what seemed the hundreth time when he finally whispered to Sango, "Maybe I should go look for him?" He made a move to get up.

He stopped when Sango placed a hand on his arm and shook her head, "Houshi-sama...it's getting dark and you have some serious injuries. If you run into youkai, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself."

They both look up when Kagome suddenly collapsed to her knees, leaning on her hands in front of her. "Kagome, are you alright?" Sango called out to her tentatively.

Kagome didn't hear her; she was lost in her own thoughts. Why would Inuyasha leave when he was so seriously injured? She had seem the deep lacerations on his back, and had to make a quick decision whether to treat him or Miroku first...but upon seeing Miroku's dislocated shoulder, and knowing Inuyasha's healing abilities...she had made the right choice, right?

She stared into the darkening forest. Normally, Inuyasha could take care of himself, but he was already injured when he went out into the wilderness alone. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach. What if he were ambushed? What if those bear youkai come back for revenge? It was hard enough fighting them as a team, but an injured Inuyasha taking them all on by himself...Kagome began to wring her hands in dismay.

A sudden rustle to her left and the sound of twigs breaking caused her heart to leap into her throat. Slowly, she began to move towards her bow and arrow. Sango and Miroku noticed the disturbance as well, and picked up their respective weapons, going into a defensive stance despite their wounds.

Everyone jumped as their "attacker" stumbled out of the bushes, and landed facedown in a big silver and red heap near the fireplace.

"Inuyasha!" exclaimed Kagome as she ran to his side, turning him over.

He groaned as she moved to inspect his injuries. The cliff had been quite steep, steeper than he had predicted and the gorge had been filled with gigantic thorn bushes. It took him nearly an hour to detangle himself and another hour to find his way out of the prickly prison. At least no one would ever suspect him of being moronic enough to jump down a cliff...

Miroku eyed Inuyasha's injuries from afar, "It almost looks as if you threw yourself down a cliff."

Inuyasha's eye began to twitch as he turned to glare at the monk. "K-keh! I w-was, uh...attacked! By an ox youkai!" He pulled the shikon shard out of his robes as proof, "See! He even had a shikon shard!"

The monk examined the thorn scratches on the hanyou's visage, "Hmm, but the only thorn bushes that grow around this area are usually in deep ravines..."

Inuyasha gave Miroku a hard icy glare that quickly shut up the monk. "I. Was. Thrown. Down. The. Cliff." he said, emphasizing each word loudly. He then turned to Kagome to give her the shard, only to freeze at the smell of tears.

"Kagome...?" he asked tentatively, watching her shadowed face nervously.

"STUPID!" she yelled at him, revealing the steam of tears down her face, "How could you just leave us like that when you were hurt so badly? And then you took on an ox youkai by yourself!" She wiped away the tears in a fury, "Y-you could have..."

Inuyasha opened his mouth to shoot back a retort, but quickly realized that he didn't have any. He had seen the injuries on the bandaged monk and he had to admit that he had been hurt more than he originally assumed. And...she had been quite worried about him after all...and he had made her worry even more by running away from the camp. He looked away and mumbled, "Keh. I've survived in the wild all my life. As if a mere ox youkai will take me down."

"But look at you! You're bleeding all over!"

"Keh."

Kagome sighed exasperatedly as she tugged on his hand. "Can you stand? I need to you to come to the river with me so I can wash those injuries."

Inuyasha wobbled a little as he stood up. Kagome moved to support him with her shoulder. She looked up at him with concerned eyes, "Mou...you really did it this time..."

He made a face and scoffed at her, growing warm at the look in her eyes. As she focused on getting them to the river, he took a deep breath filled with Kagome's scent. It made him feel warm and happy...and loved.

"You threw yourself down that cliff didn't you?"

Inuyasha stumbled over a rock that wasn't there. "W-what?"

They had reached the riverside, and Kagome dipped her towel in the cool water as she told him, "That ox youkai that you supposedly fought? He stumbled across our campsite too."

Inuyasha's mind began to work furiously at a reasonable explantion, "Uh...that is, wh...uh..."

She pressed the cool towel to his suddenly burning red face, "He was muttering about a "crazy hanyou" that jumped off a cliff right after he talked to him."

Ack. Inuyasha's eyes darted around, trying to avoid Kagome's questioning gaze.

She dropped the towel in his lap, and held his face still between her hands as she stared at him with those concerned eyes, "Why would you do something like that?"

His heart beat heavily in his chest. 'Do something!' a voice inside him screamed, 'Anything! Just get her off this subject!'

And so Inuyasha did the first thing that came into his mind. He darted forward and met Kagome's lips with his own.

They stayed like that for a good few seconds. The silence drew on and on until he heard that voice again.

'...idiot.'

"Mmmph?" Kagome made a questioning sound beneath him. His heart began to thump wildly. He quickly reasoned out the situation in his mind; letting go of her lips would mean talking. Talking would mean having to come up with an explanation. Thus, he should just continue kissing her.

To Inuyasha, it seemed like a decently good idea. Leaned slightly against her, pushing her to the soft grass and holding himself up with his elbows. He pressed into her soft lips with his own, and she gasped slightly at the resulting sensation she felt across her body. He took advantage of the opening and delved inside her mouth, touching her tounge with his own, reveling in her sweet taste. His mind became hazy as he explored her mouth and soon he forgot the reason why he was kissing her in the first place.

Kagome whimpered and sighed into his mouth, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. She shyly rubbed her tounge against his, feeling her face turn bright red as she did so. She had never really been kissed before, and she reveled in the new experience.

Much sooner than he wanted, Inuyasha's lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen, and he was forced to break the kiss. He panted heavily as he stared at Kagome's flushed face. Her eyes were closed, and her lips looked plump and swollen. He groaned and slowly ran his tounge across her lower lip...

Kagome gasped at the sensation, and moved to grip the haori on his back. "Inuyasha..."

Suddenly he let out a yelp of pain and jumped back from her. Kagome quickly sat up, moving towards him with concern. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I forgot about the scratches on your back."

He glared at her silently, looking slightly flushed from their previous activity. He muttered under his breath, "It's alright."

They were both silent for a while, unable to look each other in the eye.

Then Kagome piped up, "So tell me, why DID you jump down that cliff?"

Inuyasha stiffened. Yet again, he was unable to come up with a good explanation. He quickly moved to capture Kagome's lips again (after all, she didn't seem to mind it all that much the first time), but Kagome was quicker this time, and covered his mouth with her hand before he got too close.

She shook her head, "Nuh-uh. That same trick isn't going to work twice."

His eyes looked slightly hurt, then slightly panicked as he realized he STILL hadn't come up with a good excuse for the now infamous "cliff incident".

She whispered softly, "Just tell me the truth. I won't get angry." With that, she removed her hand from his mouth.

He looked away and muttered, "I got annoyed."

She blinked. "Annoyed? Why?"

His ears flattened, showing his unhappiness, "At you and the monk."

"Because I was taking care of Miroku-sama?"

His silence was all the answer that she needed.

"He was really hurt. He needed immediate attention."

"Keh! I knew that..."

"Then why were you so upset?"

"I don't know! I just was!"

"Oh." She could accept that answer. She knew, more than anyone, that emotions were unreasonable sometimes. "So you jumped off the cliff to get attention?"

"...not exactly."

She looked at him questioningly.

"I tripped."

She quickly raised a hand to her mouth to smother the giggle that bubbled up in her throat.

Inuyasha glared at her.

She smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry...I mean...you always call ME a klutz..."

Inuyasha jerked his head away from her. "Keh!"

She smiled softly as she reached for her towel, "Now then...let's get you fixed up."

As Kagome tended to his injuries, Inuyasha mulled over the day's events. Four shikon shards...and a kiss from Kagome. It really wasn't such a bad day after all. He stole a quick glance at Kagome's lips out of the corner of his eye.

Not a bad day at all.

* * *

Author's Note: Phew! That was my very first fanfic EVER! Personally, I think I still have a long ways to go before I can really be a great writer. Actually, I think I could do alot more with this one-shot, so it will most likely go through many revisions before I'm really satisfied with it.

Anyway, before anyone asks, I'm an avid InuKago fan, and I highly doubt I will ever write anything else. Personally, I love the couple, and I can't stand to think of them apart.

UPDATE: A popular question that I get regarding this fic is whether or not there will be a sequel...the answer is...I'm not sure yet. This story actually popped into my head quite randomly, and whether or not I do a follow up depends on if I get inspired to. I have many other ideas in my head for other Inuyasha fanfics, so for now, this will remain a one-shot. 


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